SS Reform and Game Playing

[Annie]

So many links and laughs!

http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=1394

SS Reform is Dead; Long Live SS Reform
Posted by: Jon Henke on Tuesday, March 15, 2005


To the delight of the Opposition Party—and bloggers throughout the Left side of the sphere — the Washington Post reports that Bush's Social Security reform plan is quite unpopular...

Three months after President Bush launched his drive to restructure Social Security by creating private investment accounts, public support for his program remains weak, with only 35 percent of Americans now saying they approve of his handling of the issue, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

But there's something very interesting buried deep in the polling data. Very interesting indeed. The public overwhelmingly disapproves of 1) the way Bush is handling Social Security (56% - 35%), and 2) "Bush's proposals on Social Security" (55% - 37%).

But the public also overwhelmingly supports — by a margin of 56% - 41% — "a plan in which people who chose to could invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market".

Uh.....

That brings up a couple questions:

1. Where have I seen a plan like that before?
2. If the public supports personal accounts, then to which of Bush's "proposals on Social Security" do they object? Because the only thing he's actually proposed is the option to "invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market".

And why does the Washington Post bury the fact that the public dislikes every part of Social Security reform except what has actually been proposed by President Bush? That seems important.

Still, with polls going against him, the Democrats united against, and even David Brooks losing hope, it may be end-game for Personal Accounts. Which may explain why tax reform —which had taken a backseat to Social Security reform — is back...

A presidential advisory panel has quietly begun work on the critically important issue of tax reform. It does so against a political backdrop that makes it appear increasingly likely that the president's twin domestic goals of reforming Social Security and the tax system will merge by the summer.

The Democrats know very well what Milton Friedman described in Tyranny of the Status Quo:

A new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes; if it does not seize the opportunity to act decisively during that period, it will not have another such opportunity. Further changes come slowly or not at all, and counterattacks develop against the initial changes. The temporarily routed political forces regroup, and then tend to mobilize everyone who was adversely affected by the changes, while the proponents of the changes tend to relax after their initial victories.

The Democrats have to play a Prevent Defense for just a little while...and they're doing it rather well.